Disease in the Developing World

News Releases

Public Release: 29-Apr-2015 American Journal of Tropical Medicine and HygieneQuenching the thirst for clean, safe water
It is estimated that one in nine people globally lack access to safe water. Michigan State University researchers are looking to fill that critical need and provide safe drinking water to the most remote locations in the world with a new foam water filter that significantly reduces dangerous pathogens in drinking water.
Amway

Public Release: 29-Apr-2015Science academies hand over statements for G7 summit to German Chancellor Merkel
Today the national science academies of the G7 countries handed three statements to their respective heads of government for discussion during the G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in early June 2015. The papers on antibiotic resistance, neglected and poverty-related diseases, and the future of the ocean were drawn up by the seven national academies under the aegis of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Public Release: 29-Apr-2015 PLOS ONELocally sourced drugs can be effective for treating multidrug-resistant TB
Locally sourced antibiotics can be as effective as 'internationally quality-assured' antibiotics for treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Pakistan, and may help avoid delays in starting treatment while programs wait for drugs to arrive from overseas, according to new research. The study, published in PLOS ONE, was a collaboration between researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Pakistan National TB Control Programme, and the Research Alliance for Advocacy and Development.
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Public Release: 29-Apr-2015 PLOS ONEImproved sanitation may reduce sexual violence in South African townships
Improving access to public toilets in South African urban settlements may reduce both the incidence of sexual assaults by nearly 30 percent and the overall cost to society, a study by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Management found.
NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse

Public Release: 28-Apr-2015 PLOS MedicineNo single cut-off for parasite half-life can define artemisinin-resistant malaria
Data from southeast Asia -- where artemisinin-resistant malaria strains were first detected -- broadly support WHO's 'working definition' for artemisinin resistance, but the currently used definitions require important refinements, according to a study by Lisa White and colleagues, from Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, published this week in PLOS Medicine.
Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme in SE Asia

Public Release: 28-Apr-2015 PLOS MedicineWound healing, viral suppression linked to less HIV shedding from circumcision wounds
The likelihood of viral shedding from male circumcision wounds intially increases, then decreases as the wounds heal, and is lower in patients with lower plasma viral load, according to a study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The study, conducted by Aaron Tobian, of Johns Hopkins University and the Rakai Health Sciences Program and colleagues, monitored 223 HIV-infected men for wound healing and viral shedding from their surgical wounds for 12 weeks following voluntary medical male circumcision.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH/Fogarty International Center

Public Release: 28-Apr-2015 Nature CommunicationsTwo-week international diet swap shows potential effects of food on colon cancer risk
African-Americans and Africans who swapped their typical diets for just two weeks similarly exchanged their respective risks of colon cancer as reflected by alterations of their gut bacteria, according to an international study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine published online in Nature Communications.
National Institutes of Health, National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre

Public Release: 28-Apr-2015 RetrovirologyImproving the effect of HIV drugs by the use of a vaccine
A vaccine containing a protein necessary for virus replication can boost an HIV-infected patient's immune system, according to clinical research published in the open-access journal Retrovirology. This boost can result in increased effectiveness of antiretroviral drugs.

Public Release: 28-Apr-2015 PLOS MedicineAs circumcision wounds heal, HIV-positive men may spread virus to female partners
In a campaign to slow the spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, the World Health Organization recommends male circumcision, which reduces HIV acquisition by 50-60 percent. A new study of HIV-infected men in Uganda has identified a temporary, but potentially troublesome unintended consequence: a possible increased risk of infecting female sexual partners over a few weeks while circumcision wounds heal. Men taking anti-HIV drugs were 90% less likely to shed virus during healing.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH/Fogarty International Center

Public Release: 27-Apr-2015 Antimicrobial Agents and ChemotherapyStopping HIV in its tracks
Findings published this week in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy report that a novel, subdermal implant delivering potent antiretroviral drugs shows extreme promise in stopping the spread of HIV.
Scientists from the Oak Crest Institute of Science, in Pasadena, Calif., report that they have developed a matchstick size implant, similar to a contraceptive implant, that successfully delivers a controlled, sustained release of ARV drugs up to 40 days in dogs with no adverse side effects.

Public Release: 27-Apr-2015 Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesInternational research team discovers new mechanism behind malaria progression
A team of researchers from four universities, including Carnegie Mellon, has pinpointed one of the mechanisms responsible for the progression of malaria, providing a new target for possible treatments. Using computer modeling, the group found that nanoscale knobs, which form at the membrane of infected red blood cells, cause the cell stiffening that is in part responsible for the reduced blood flow that can turn malaria deadly.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 27-Apr-2015World's largest open source health information technology project tackles Ebola
An accurate, up to the minute, accessible medical record system is fundamental to effective treatment and tracking of the Ebola virus. But how to create this type of system in the rudimentary, overwhelmed Ebola care centers of West Africa where paper records or computers -- even if they were available -- couldn't be carried in and out of treatment areas? OpenMRS community put out call to action to respond to the outbreak, and volunteers from around the world responded.

Public Release: 27-Apr-2015
20th Asia Pacific Society of Cardiology CongressAbu Dhabi meeting aims to stem rising risk of cardiovascular disease
The American College of Cardiology will host sessions on the prevention of cardiovascular disease and treatments for heart failure at the 20th Asia Pacific Society of Cardiology Congress in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Given the growing burden of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the Middle East, the setting of the United Arab Emirates provides context for the importance of bringing together global leaders in cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment.

Public Release: 24-Apr-2015York's anti-malarial plant given Chinese approval
A new hybrid plant used in anti-malarial drug production, developed by scientists at the University of York's Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, is now registered as a new variety in China.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Public Release: 23-Apr-2015 PLOS Computational BiologyFinding new life for first-line antibiotics
Researchers have identified a single, simple measure -- recovery time -- to guide antibiotic dosing that could bring an entire arsenal of first-line antibiotics back into the fight against drug-resistant pathogens.
National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, DuPont Young Professorship Award, David and Lucile Packard Fellowship, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Howard G. Clark Fellowship

Public Release: 22-Apr-2015 Lancet Infectious DiseasesResearchers discover never-before-seen tick-borne disease
Just in time for spring and the explosion of ticks in forests, lawns and trails, a new study by researchers from China and the University of Maryland School of Medicine has uncovered a never-before-seen illness transmitted by ticks. The disease could be a 'substantial health threat' to humans and animals in areas where the carrier tick is common.

Public Release: 22-Apr-2015Ebola survivors donate plasma to tackle outbreak
The first donations of plasma, from survivors of the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, have been received by an international research team working to help tackle current and future disease outbreaks in West Africa.
Wellcome Trust

Public Release: 22-Apr-2015 PLOS BiologyBoosting the malaria battle-line
In a huge boost to the global fight against malaria, researchers have discovered how the malaria parasite protects itself by building resistance against the last-line in antimalarial medications, and how a new medical treatment can overcome the parasite's defenses.

Public Release: 22-Apr-2015 NatureUTMB researchers develop Ebola treatment effective 3 days after infection
Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp., have successfully developed a post-exposure treatment that is effective against a specific strain of the Ebola virus that killed thousands of people in West Africa.
National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 21-Apr-2015Book details misconceptions about smallpox's role in Native depopulation
As part of his new book, 'Cherokee Medicine, Colonial Germs: An Indigenous Nation's Fight against Smallpox, 1518-1824,' a University of Kansas history professor disputes the idea that infectious diseases themselves gave Europeans an advantage over Native-Americans because indigenous peoples did not have the right medicine or knowledge base to fight these new diseases, such as smallpox.

Public Release: 21-Apr-2015 ImmunityImmune cells support good gut bacteria in fight against harmful bacteria
The immune cell protein ID2 is critical for the maintenance of healthy gut microbiota, helping good bacteria fight off harmful bacteria. This study, published in Immunity, shows how the immune system shapes the gut microbiota to limit infections.
National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 21-Apr-2015
Fourth Global Forum on TB VaccinesNew research points to elderly as growing contributor to tuberculosis in China
A major contributor to the number of tuberculosis infections and cases in China will likely be the elderly over the next decades, requiring a refocus in efforts to control a disease affecting millions in China, according to preliminary new research presented today at the Fourth Global Forum on TB Vaccines in Shanghai. Researchers from the LSHTM found that developing a 'post-infection' vaccine could reduce overall TB rates in China by almost a third by 2050.